University of Michigan Health System leader Ora Pescovitz thanked college president Mary Sue Coleman for "coaching me and mentoring me" during the past five years.

Pescovitz announced earlier this week that she won't seek to renew her employment contract when it expires June 1. Pescovitz has been the health system's CEO and one of three executive vice presidents at U-M since June 2009.

During a public Board of Regents meeting held Thursday at the Michigan Union, Coleman praised Pescovitz's leadership of the health system.

"Ora, you are a leader with tremendous compassion and warmth," Coleman told Pescovitz. "Thank you very much for everything you've done."

Pescovitz steps down during a time of transition for U-M: Coleman is retiring in July and being replaced with Brown Provost Mark Schlissel, an immunologist by trade who served as the dean of biological sciences at the University of California, Berkeley's campus.

Coleman credited Pescovitz with the health system's high satisfaction scores and its "extraordinary" growth over the five-year period, including increased collaborations.

Added Regent Denise Illitch, who serves on the Board of Regents' health affairs committee with Pescovitz: "You are an extremely talented individual. It's been an absolute privilege to work with you. You are going to be sorely missed."

Pescovitz has led the organization during a time of expansion, including construction of the $754 million C.S. Mott Children's Hospital & Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, and a time of acquisition, including the proposed affiliation with Jackson's century-old Allegiance Health System. During her tenure, Michigan's health care market has seen expanded competition, and while UMHS has $3 billion in cash reserves, it is working to close a projected $250 million budget gap by 2017.

"It's been truly a rare privilege to lead the health system," Pescovitz said Thursday.

A pediatric endocrinologist, Pescovitz served as the leader of Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis before coming to Ann Arbor in 2009.

Also on Thursday, regents unanimously approved the appointment of Michael Johns as interim executive vice president for medical affairs. Johns is a U-M medical school graduate and former medical resident who recently served as Emory University's chancellor for five years.

He will earn an annual base salary of $754,000.

U-M executives and the Board of Regents met with Johns to discuss the future of academic health care systems during a trip to New York City in January.

Pescovitz earned $885,000 in wages and benefits in 2012, according to W-2 documents obtained by The Ann Arbor News. That year, her base salary was $754,000.